Action
Research Project Title: Collaboration:
The Key to Student Success in Social Studies
Number
of AR Project Documented Hours: 47 total hours
AR
Project Summary (at least 250 words):
My action research project, Collaboration: The Key to
Student Success in Social Studies, has been progressing relatively well since the beginning of March. The
process began by my alerting the social studies teachers, curriculum
leaders/coaches, and principals in my region of my intentions to increase collaboration
among social studies teachers. This prospect was well-received among all
parties included in this initial email. In that email, I made these individual
aware that I would be sending a survey out soon regarding their views and opinions
on collaboration within their school and among the region, and that anyone
wishing to participate could anonymously complete the survey. On March 18,
2013, I utilized “The Metlife Survey of the American Teacher: Collaborating for
Student Success” as my guide and created my own survey using Survey Monkey. I
sent this survey out to my email list at 5:00 in the evening. By the end of
that week, I had received thirty-seven completed surveys. I promptly reviewed
the data from the surveys to determine the region’s views on collaboration. The
survey returned data detailing if and to what degree collaboration is currently
practiced within districts and the region as a whole. The survey also allowed
me to determine the teachers and administrators most desired means of
collaboration.
Next, took steps to
creating the Region 5 Social Studies Advisory Council. I sent out the following
email to all of the teachers and administrators in my listserv:
Dear Social Studies Teachers,
As I have been working as the Social Studies
Coordinator since September, I have really been thinking about what can be done
to improve social studies instruction and test scores in our region. I know
that each of you is working diligently to strengthen the social studies program
at each of your schools. I have found that what our region truly lacks at the
moment is collaboration, the sharing of ideas among stakeholders in order to
successfully complete a task. It is my hope to move us in a more collaborative
and cooperative direction. The first way I hope to do that is to form a Social
Studies Council for our area. I am looking for teachers, curriculum coaches and
leaders, and administrators who desire to work together toward the betterment
of our social studies programs. I know that alone, I do not have all the
answers, but together we can achieve many great things. I would like to hold
monthly meetings in which we discuss various strategies and methods for
improvement and needed professional development, as well as discussing what is
working in your districts. I would love to have people who are from different
types of schools: big, small, Title 1, elementary, middle, high, etc. Please
let me know if you would be interested in participating in this council. I am
thinking about meeting once a month for a couple of hours. I know that trying
to get substitutes is difficult, so it might require some outside of school
time. This is something we can work out during our first meeting. I hope we can
work together to move in the right direction! Please consider! Have a great
weekend!!!
I was excited that
within the day of sending this email out, I had fifteen teachers and
administrators respond that they wished to join the group. We held our first
meeting on April 1, 2013, second on June 24, 2013, and third on August 12,
2013. Meet with Region 5 Council each month to discuss ways to better our
social studies programs. At our first meeting we created a vision statement
examining our true goal. Throughout the meeting process we have sought to evaluate
strategies and methods for improvement. We work collaboratively as a team to
monitor progress, assess achievement, and address action research questions. We
also determine needed professional development and discuss what is and is not working
within the districts. Each of these occasions have yielded excellent ideas for
improving not only the collaboration for our region, but also the conversations
have really served to point me in the right direction for how I can best serve my
teachers and their students.
Due to requests
denoted on the survey, I have created a Region 5 Social Studies Facebook group
in which teachers can join and share ideas with one another regarding
strategies and instruction. This has been one of the most exciting pieces of
the action research project in that I have witnessed teachers come out of their
comfort zones to share information with one another.
